A Great Get Together Iftar is being planned where everyone is welcome to share a virtual Iftar, the meal served at the end of the day during Ramadan to break the day's fast.
The event is being organised by Trubys Garden Tea Room and hosted online by Milton Keynes College. It is set to take place on Sunday 25th April 2021.
A multitude of faith groups will be joining the Muslim community including Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, all coming together to celebrate Ramadan. There will be music and poetry, speeches, recitations from the Quran and much more, all leading to the ceremonial sharing of the Iftar meal.
Trubys was founded in 2014 as an outreach project to promote interfaith dialogue between Muslims and the wider community of Milton Keynes, in particular to give non-Muslims the opportunity to experience and observe the spirit of Ramadan.
The Iftar event has been running since 2017 as part of the nation-wide Great Get Togethers campaign organised in honour of Jo Cox, the MP murdered by a white supremacist.
Kurshida Mirza, Event organiser, said: “I’m delighted to be working with our partners to invite the communities of Milton Keynes to the Great Get Together Iftar. It is such a privilege to be able to share the beauty of Ramadan with the wider community. The essence of the Great Get Together Iftar remains 'we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us' as our collective experience of Lockdown demonstrates.”
This year’s event will particularly aim to share experiences of lockdown and bring a message of hope for the future. A week before the Iftar it’s also planned to distribute Ramadan Food Hampers to a hundred vulnerable families in the city.
Nominations for those who will receive the gift have come via referrals from The Red Cross (refugee families), African Diaspora Foundation, Syrian Refugee Families and others. Anyone who wants to make a donation towards the hampers is asked to click here.
Community Engagement Manager at Milton Keynes College, Rebecca Myrie, is on the organising committee and she adds:“Milton Keynes College is proud to support The Great Get Together Iftar that celebrates and strengthens our diverse community.
"We have seen the event grow and develop since it first started in 2017 and are excited to be part of it in 2021. The ethos behind the celebration is particularly important as we cope with the global pandemic. Sharing messages of hope and positivity help us to connect, reducing isolation and increasing understanding for the people of Milton Keynes.”
You can register for the event here.
